Measurement of the neutron dose equivalent rate from a dedicated intraoperative radiation therapy accelerator / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To measure and analyze the neutron dose equivalent rate produced by an IORT accelerator with 9 and 12 MeV electron energyies,and compare them with those from a Siemens Primus linear accelerator with the same electron energy,in order to provide data reference for the risk of secondary cancer induced by radiotherapy.Methods Using the neutron detector LB6411,the neutron dose equivalent rates produced by the IORT accelerator of 9 and 12 MeV were measured on some key locations,such as the head of the accelerator,cylinder bottom,patient plane with electron energies 9 and 12 MeV.The similar measurements were also performed on the same locations on a Siemens conventional accelerator.The data were collected and analyzed and the result wer compared between the two accelerators.Results Neutron dose equivalent rates from the IORT accelerator with 9 MeV energy were (51.8±3.1),(45.5 ±1.5),(70.5 ±4.9) and (68.2±3.3) μ Sv/h near the head of the accelerator,cylinder bottom,patient plane,with 5.9％,5.4％,17.8％ and 21.5％ lower than at 12 MeV,respectively.The dose equivalent rates at the similar locations from the Siemens Primus accelerator were (277.3 ±1.2),(285.1 ±1.6),(185.1 ±1.8) and (182.8 ±2.4) μSv/h at 9 MeV,with 48.8％,47.6％,48.7％,52.2％ lower than those at 12 MeV,respectively.At the energy of 12MeV,the neutron equivalent dose rate from the IORT was lower by a factor of about 10 than for Siemens Primus accelerator.Conclusions The neutron dose equivalent rates generaged by both the IORT and the Siemens Primus are higher at 12 MeV than at 9 MeV,which would lead to an increased risk of secondary cancer to patients.The traditional medical accelerator produces much higher neutron dose equivalent rates than the intraoperative electron accelerator,for which the appropriate shielding should be takn.